To get right back to the original classic IB Question: "What are the most frequent causes of 20th Century Wars?" I use the attached document to get students started during the revision period. Hope you find it useful!

Err....could you show me which war Stalin started please? And how he was a 'power-seeker'?

Mmmmm... No-one exactly forced him to invade Poland in 1939...

And I don't think the 'power-seeker' comment can really be argued with - Acton describes his personality as "a singularly repulsive concoction of power-lust, megalomania, cynicism, and suspicion".

To a certain extent he was forced into it for various factors. Firstly, Stalin knew that an attack from Hitler would be imminent- it was part of Hitlers foreign policy to abolish communism and carve an empire out of eastern Europe for lebensraum. Furthermore, he said this openly. So therefore, signing the Nazi-Soviet pact would give him time to re-arm. Also after the Munich agreement Stalin knew Britain and France could not be trusted as they could've confronted Hitler instead of signing the agreement including the Anglo-Naval pact. This was tied into the fact the British didnt trust Stalin- so an agreement took to long thus Stalin chose to dramatically sign with Hitler.

...not only Stalin but Mussolini too was the victim of perfidious Albion...it was Mussolini who stood up to Hitler when the Nazis attempted an Anschluss with Austria in '34, it was Mussolini who created the Stresa Pact with Britain and France with the express intention of containing Hitler, and it was Britain that broke it up by cynically signing an Anglo-German Naval Agreement with Hitler (which Hitler proposed primarily and deliberately to break up the Stresa Pact).

Throughout the period there was the prevailing view in British government that Hitler was a useful buffer against Stalin, and that Mussolini could go hang as long as Hitler was up for a private deal with the Brits.

Arguably.

"There's an old saying about those who forget history. I don't remember it, but it's good" - Stephen Colbert